The iPhone X Notch is All About Branding

After the iPhone X launch event there is a lot of discussion about its distinctive “notch” at the top of the screen, which is housing the cameras and sensors that enable Face ID. Many people, especially designers, are voicing their opinions that it is ugly and it’s something that is not up to Apple’s design standards. The icons and time display crammed into corners just look bad.

The notch is also problematic from the UX perspective: it is jarring when viewing full-screen videos or playing games on iPhone X, and when viewing websites in a landscape mode there are white bars at the edges of the screen to accommodate for the notch.

However Apple is fully embracing the notch. In their new HIG for iPhone X they tell developers specifically not to hide it with a black bar underneath:

Don’t mask or call special attention to key display features. Don’t attempt to hide the device’s rounded corners…